WARS TO COME, game of thrones

𝐕𝐈𝐈. sorrow

𝟐𝟕𝟖 𝐀𝐂

Anrir walked slowly down the stairs. A pale, faint light soon came from somewhere, illuminating his path slightly. The further he went, the worse the smell became and soon he came across the source.

It was a long, high corridor, with weapons and statues of knights hanging on the walls. Leaning against the walls and lying on the floor were corpses, the further he walked, the more there were. The last corpse was still wearing full armor, leaning against a metal-studded wooden door. Groaning, he pulled the corpse away, then opened the door. He entered the armory of Riverfall; a massive room with a mass of weapons and armor. He did not enter the room any further, the chaos he was confronted with stopped him in his tracks. Swords and pieces of armor lay on the floor, and there were corpses everywhere. It was as if the knights had died trying to arm themselves, as if whatever had been hunting them had caught up with them.

Although the smell was terrible, Anrir just stood there silently for a while, as if paying his last respects to the dead. He didn't realize how long he stood there until he made his way back upstairs to Ned. Halfway up, he noticed the silence and intuitively quickened his steps. Ned was gone. "Eddard?!" Anrir shouted loudly and was suddenly overcome with fear, stumbling out of the room into the corridor and running straight into Eddard.

"Damn it, are you trying to scare me to death on purpose?" Anrir hissed and punched Eddard angrily in the chest. "Of course not! You suddenly disappeared," he protested, skillfully dodging Anrir's next attempt to hit him. "I was just down the stairs!" "I wouldn't know if you didn't say anything," Ned said and smiled at him, placing a hand on Anrir's cheek in a conciliatory gesture, which he immediately swatted away again. "Idiot." "Yeah, yeah, don't be miffed, An," Ned rolled his eyes slightly. Anrir pursed his lips, just glad that nothing had happened to Ned. After all, he had persuaded him to spend so much time here in Riverfall, a place they knew was dangerous.

"It's getting dark already," Ned remarked, pointing up to a window, the light was indeed fading, "We should turn back." "I want to go further. We're not going back in the dark anyway." Ned gave him a dissatisfied, worried look that clearly showed he didn't agree with Anrir. "Anrir, please. That's stupid," Ned tried and Anrir grimaced. "All right... It's all right," Anrir sighed and took a quick look around before he and Ned headed for the entrance hall again.

They walked quietly down the stairs. The gradually increasing darkness made them cautious. Riverfall seemed more and more like a tomb to Anrir. His father's cloak was still waiting for him at the door and Anrir lifted it up, stroking the soft but sturdy material briefly. It was a familiar feeling. Ned smiled at him from the side and together they set about pushing open the gate. "This place is kind of creepy, but it doesn't seem haunted, does it?" Ned mused beside him as they closed the door behind them. "No... Not really," Anrir smiled slightly, but his thoughts were on the corpses he had found in the armory.

The horses were still waiting for them and they both mounted, riding at a moderate pace towards the eyrie- they didn't want to risk the horses getting hurt in the dark.

"I'm glad I'm allowed to live in the eyrie and that I survived what... whatever happened in Riverfall... I'm glad I met you," Anrir said softly and looked at Ned. He looked more grown up in the dark, his red hair darker and the aspects of his face that otherwise revealed him as a fifteen-year-old boy disappeared. "I wish I'd been born a woman... We wouldn't have to do anything secretly, then it wouldn't be wrong what we do...", Anrir said softly and painfully. "Honestly?" Eddard asked quietly and critically. Anrir sighed tornly: "No, I'm... actually like being me. Except for..." "What you're really like." "You're the same," Anrir murmured softly. "I'm the second-born of a lord and you're an orphan... We could just run away. Far away from here. I don't want to lie to the world. I'd rather be with you somewhere where we don't have to hide." Anrir looked into Ned's sincere gray eyes, which shimmered warmly in the darkness. "We're still young. We'll grow out of this. And we're not doing anything special. We're just normal friends, except that we kiss," Anrir mumbled defensively.